


Trial by Earth.

by WinterFaerie



Series: A Realm Reborn: Shion's beginning. [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Blood and Injury, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26354608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterFaerie/pseuds/WinterFaerie
Summary: Newbie adventurer, Shion Ayanami is sent out to the North Shroud in order to learn more about the element of earth from Nolanel at the Blessed Bud. As per his instruction, she seeks out an area where the earth is tainted. She must find a way to heal the trauma but things don't go as she initially expects.
Series: A Realm Reborn: Shion's beginning. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917160
Kudos: 5





	Trial by Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically just the level 5 conjurers quest. I was incredibly immersed in my current play-through of ffxiv and was pondering on just how Shion would ACTUALLY fare against some tainted earth. 
> 
> “To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”  
> — Mahatma Gandhi
> 
> “Earth's crammed with heaven...  
> But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.”  
> ― Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh
> 
> Enjoy!

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 

𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝.

Blistered feet slowly marched along a muddy path, each footfall splattering and squishing into the shroud’s soft soil. Shion muttered under her breath while reaching up to wipe the sweat and rain from her eyes. Mumble, grumble. Something about, ‘gods damned sacks of chocobo manure’ and the never ending mist of rain. Her new gloves hung loosely on her belt, bouncing against her hip as she made her way begrudgingly up the hill towards the Treespeak Stables. There was one major thing Shion needed to accomplish out here and she was beginning to realize that having it be the LAST thing on her extensive list of to-dos was a horrible, horrible idea. 

E-Sumi-Yan bid her to seek out Nolanel in the North Shroud to learn more about the element of ‘earth’. Of course, she found the notion of someone being an expert in rocks and dirt to be a little /odd/ but she tried to keep an open mind. Perhaps she would learn something important through this trial. That was the point after all, right? She sure hoped so because the mud weighing down her boots wasn’t enlightening her in the slightest. 

Shion made her way around the back of the stables and spotted the area where they grew gyshal greens for the birds. This was where the ‘tainted’ earth should be, or so she was told. Being here was starting to make her overly skeptical of many things. These Gridanians seemed to have a penchant for telling half truths to get what they want done. It wouldn’t surprise her in the least if she were to be approached by one of the workers and asked to do some chore here; ‘Help with the weeding since you have so much time on your hands, adventurer! That’ll make the earth happy!’ 

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍. 

It hit her like a cold blast of air to the face. Shion’s horns seemed to buzz as every sense suddenly came to life, tingling from the message she just received. No word was spoken but the feeling she had was that of panic and suffering. For a moment, she was scared. She wasn’t injured but she felt a deep ache in her chest and tears burned in her eyes. Heavy feet hesitantly carried her forward, moving further into the feeling and closer to what she could now see as a strange discolored patch of earth. Rich purples, midnight blues and near vantablack billowed out of the area like smoke, poisoning the area around it with this 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. Trauma. Pain. Suffering. The closer Shion got the harder it was for her to convince herself that this feeling wasn’t going to be her end. Shion just wanted to curl up into a ball among the strong leafy smelling greens and sob. 

The air warped before her widening eyes and from this distortion, a crystal appeared, colored like amber and glowing like an angry fire. Large hunks of earth began to manifest around the sprite, floating about it like an ever expanding and contracting protective shield. The gardeners all looked up from their work and edged back away from the thing murmuring anxiously. 

The horrible feeling. The taint and corruption. They were coming directly from this sprite. The second she made this realization the sprite burst with golden energy, dipped backwards and then jolted forwards, flinging a large stone directly at Shion. The stone collided with her, right in the stomach and sent her sailing back onto her tail in the wet dirt. Gasping for air, she managed to roll out of the way of the next attack, the stone striking the ground just ilms from her nose, mucking up her face and new half-robe with a splatter. Once she was on her hands and knees, she ungracefully staggered back to her feet and pulled her wooden staff from its place over her back. The next chunk of earth to come soaring her way was blocked by the neck of her staff as she gripped it with both hands, white knuckled, but the force of it caused the wood to bow in towards her with an alarming ‘crack’. Not good. 

While she was worried about the state of her weapon, she felt something strike with her head. For a moment, lights twinkle in her vision and she can smell blood. Before she knew it, she was on the ground again and when her vision did finally return to her, she found herself staring stupidly at the grey sky. A shaky hand touched the warm wet spot in her hair and she flinched. What was she doing? 

She rolled onto her side, her head feeling heavier than the large stone that had knocked her down in the first place. Focusing now on the corrupted sprite with a squint, she watched it carefully. It seemed to be draining the aether around it. Taking it and molding it into something grotesque and 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 

‘ᴛʜɪs ᴘᴀɪɴ… ᴛʜɪs ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀɴɢᴜɪsʜ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ sʜᴀʀᴇᴅ. ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ sʜᴀʀᴇᴅ. ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ sᴘʀᴇᴀᴅ. ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴄᴏʀʀᴜᴘᴛ. ғᴜʀᴛʜᴇʀ. ғᴜʀᴛʜᴇʀ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴡɪᴅᴇɴ. ᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ғᴏʀɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ.’

Shion’s heart jumped in her chest as she suddenly felt the urgency of the situation. With her temples throbbing, she got back to her feet again and lifted her damaged staff, drawing a quick half circle in the air with it before her. What did E-Sumi-Yan tell her? Something about using the energies around her. Borrowing it and bending it to her will. She did just that, focused and determined she pulled aether from beneath her feet and her own large mass of rock was pulled from the ground beside her. 

It took off flying and collided with the tainted sprite, before it could recover and send another attack, Shion’s second rock rapidly followed. The amber crystal cracked and a low, gravelly sound could be heard from the ground beneath them. Shion lunged forward, her feet planting and rooting themselves there as she hoisted her staff up into the air. The earth around the sprite itself turned against it and sucked inward, crushing the crystal inside before crumbling into a pile of pebbles at the edge of the garden. There was no final cry of anguish, no blood save for the thin trail down her face between her wide eyes. The taint began to dissipate, the smokey plume faded and with it the horrible feelings of upset and agony lifted from the area.

The earth breathed a sigh of relief as a cool breeze brushed past the panting raen. Even though the taint was gone, a wave of emotions bubbled up in her and she let out a sudden sob. Her shoulders heaved and she fell to the ground on her hands and knees after dropping her staff. The gardeners rushed to her aid as she cried and cried and cried. It was as if ridding the ground of its old festering wounds caused her to own wounds to open back up, spilling out in fat tears that made trails through the dirt on her cheeks. 

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙..  
… 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚.

**Author's Note:**

> ..and then she goes back to Nolanel and meets Sylphie yadda yadda yadda.  
> Thanks for reading. I may keep posting more of these as I play through the game. For now Shion's just gonna carry on being a conjury student and an errand girl extraordinaire. ♥


End file.
